Ebays PL .ITS A SCAM

[jasoheat_0]

so i recently ended all my promoted listing , as my sale and views were down to single digits ( 75% ) , now i get this ad from Ebay stating HEY BUY ADS FROM US , what, i had all my listings promoted for at least a year , then all of a sudden in march sales went NUCLEAR thru the middle of the earth ....  what is wrong with the people that run this platform ( DONT NEED CHEERLEADERS AS I WILL GIVE NUMBERS TO SHOW EBAY IS FAILING ) , are they serious , do they have any clue , IAN by himself has dropped active buyers by 25% ( if not more ) GMV ( as he stated may drop to levels of 2019 / but hey its IAN were back down to levels of 2013 ) wow ,  those are HUGE numbers , less we forget about Market Share YEAH thats dropped 40 % , OOOOOOH Ebay employment total has dropped by 4% ( hundreds of employees got FIRED ) what an amazing CEO THANKS IAN ( ebay go ahead a censor me we all know EBAY could careless about FREE SPEECH.. ,.... OH and your  Useless customer support 

[toomuchstuffagain35]

@jasoheat_0 

If you're going to rail against the current ebay CEO, at least get his name right....

It's Jamie Iannone

[greatmidwestcoin]

I would simply agree, that yes, it is a scam. It's a hustle or blackmail to have different classes of sellers for additional profit. I fully understand it is voluntary. It's like stating, you can swim here for a fee, but it will cost additional if you want to swim where water is available. There is not much you can do about it, it is their sandbox, blah blah blah. Monopolies, such as eBay, always get their due eventually, just like AT&T and others. We on the other hand, just have to wait for that day to happen. And it seems free speech sometimes is only available to those that pay the highest for it. It is what it is. I do look forward to the day I will cut the cord, until then it keeps me busy and gives me an excuse to avoid my honey-do list.

[luckythewinner]

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@jasoheat_0 wrote:

 ebay go ahead a censor me we all know EBAY could careless about FREE SPEECH

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The Constitution does not give eBay the right free speech on your property.

It does not give you the right to free speech on their property either.

[mam98031]

@fashunu4eeuh 

"Promoted listings has been a boon for eBay. It is a really nice revenue stream, so I understand their reasoning here (it is short-sighted, but i understand)."  It is???  Or is Ebay trying to build it to something that is a "nice revenue stream"?  Did you look at the 1st quarter Ebay financials.  Did you notice that PL income for Ebay was 

1% of their sales?  Did you notice that most sellers do NOT use the program?

[mam98031]

@greatmidwestcoin 

Ebay is NOT a monopoly.  It never has been.  There is plenty of competition out there for Ebay which some on this thread are complaining about and that Ebay is falling behind.

The only thing that Ebay has that some other sites don't are auctions.  But auctions are not the most popular type of listing on Ebay.  Last time I looked auction listings had fallen to below 20% of active listing.

"it seems free speech sometimes is only available to those that pay the highest for it."  Care to explain that a bit further please.  I don't understand.  You are aware that Free Speech is a Federal thing, not a private site thing.  Your rights to freedom of speech here on the threads doesn't exist.  It is not a thing.

[fashunu4eeuh]

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@mam98031 wrote:

@fashunu4eeuh 

"Promoted listings has been a boon for eBay. It is a really nice revenue stream, so I understand their reasoning here (it is short-sighted, but i understand)."  It is???  Or is Ebay trying to build it to something that is a "nice revenue stream"?  Did you look at the 1st quarter Ebay financials.  Did you notice that PL income for Ebay was 

1% of their sales?  Did you notice that most sellers do NOT use the program?

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Hi @mam98031 as always, thank you for the insightful discourse. I may not have expressed the subject well, high finance is not my gig. Admittedly, I was not looking at the 1st Q 2023 report, but the 4th Q 2022.( I corrected that lapse and  also looked at 1st Q data.)

Still, eBay is vigorously building its promoted listings revenue streams. The fact that it accounted for a seemingly low 1.5% of GMV (4th Q 2022) does not minimize its importance to eBay as a income source.

eBay is working on a goal to increase that number to 3%. It has made PL a priority because of its strong earning potential, making it a boon because of its successful contributions to eBay thus far.

Sponsored listing ad revenue increased from $65 million in Q1 2019 to $276 million in Q4 2022, showcasing a substantial growth.

For 1st Q 2023, eBay's “first-party” advertising products, primarily driven by Promoted Listings, delivered $285 million of revenue, up 27% on an as-reported basis (and up 31% on an FX-Neutral basis).

Like i said, this is not my strong suit to discuss financials, but I think $285 million can be considered a very nice revenue stream.

[inhawaii]

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@jasoheat_0 wrote:

 ebay go ahead a censor me we all know EBAY could careless about FREE SPEECH.

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I think you meant couldn't care less.

[dqdistribution]

I love when people make free speech claims on private servers.

It's like I should be able to go to your home and say what I want.

No you have the right to stop me and tell me to leave.

eBay's servers aren't public property, free speech doesn't apply here.

[mam98031]

@fashunu4eeuh 

I agree.  Which should also show some sellers that PLS is not taking over the site as some seem to talk as if it is.  It of course is very popular in some saturated categories which I think misleads some seller into thinking it is site wide when it isn't.

Trying to sell in saturated categories is and will always be a challenge.

[mam98031]

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@inhawaii wrote:

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@jasoheat_0 wrote:

 ebay go ahead a censor me we all know EBAY could careless about FREE SPEECH.

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I think you meant couldn't care less.

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Except they need to understand when their right to Free Speech is actually applicable.  Which it is NOT on a site like Ebay.

@jasoheat_0 

freedom of speech

: the right to express information, ideas, and opinions free of government restrictions based on content and subject only to reasonable limitations (as the power of the government to avoid a clear and present danger) especially as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution

While Ebay may sometimes feel like Uncle Sam, they are not.  This simply does not apply here.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

In 2022, ebay ad revenue amounted to 1.15 billion dollars (85% of that was 1st party ads, the rest was 3rd party ads)

ebay has told investors ad revenue should hit 2 billion by 2025....and there's no doubt ebay is working to achieve that goal, and investors are watching closely to see whether ebay is making progress towards that goal.

I am pretty tired, but my understanding is ebay total revenue (I believe this includes ad revenue, but I'm not sure) was 9.7 billion on 2022. Which suggests ad revenue is a significant contributor to ebay's bottom line. 

For a little perspective, etsy's total revenue for 2022 was: 2.56 billion.

(If my figures are incorrect, I'm sure someone will be along to explain my mistakes).

While this post doesn't speak to ebay specifically, it provides some insight about the ad business on marketplace sites:

https://tanay.substack.com/p/marketplaces-and-layering-on-advertising

And I think this is a very important point:

"Extremely high margin revenue stream: For commission-based take-rates (MY NOTE: On ebay, this means FVFs)  in the marketplace, there are often some significant costs associated with the transaction. They vary based on the nature of the marketplace, but typically the costs include payment processing fees, insurance, quality control, etc. Meanwhile, the advertising revenue stream tends to have 90-95% gross margins and so often improves the margin structure of the business

And this cautionary note is important:

With all these benefits, there are a few things marketplaces should watch out for:

• To not hurt the user experience by managing ad load and keeping ads relevant

• To ensure that suppliers not paying for ads can still compete on the platform and that new suppliers still see value in the marketplace (since many will first see what results they’re getting before putting money into ads in the marketplace)

Again, my stats might be wrong, I'm hoping someone will check.

The point I'm trying to make is the ads business on ebay, as on other marketplace sites, has a larger impact than it might seem. And having announced the 2005 goal, as well as having talked about other ad goals, there is probably no chance that ebay will back off ads as a revenue source.

As sellers, the best we can hope for is that ebay pays serious attention to the cautionary notes I quoted above, even as it continues to try to drive ad growth. But the idea that ebay will stop using the ads is a fantasy.

[rugerskick]

This is a place to discuss issues people have buying and selling.

You seem to have a problem with people providing backstory and being critical of ebay business decisions and policies.  Perhaps maybe skip over these topics that bother you, its voluntary to read them as well as post  responses that don't really serve anyone's best interests and are really just meant as a humiliating shaming device to posters posting things you don't like or agree with.

[yuzuha]

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@mam98031 wrote:

Trying to sell in saturated categories is and will always be a challenge.

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Yeah, which is why to me getting mad at PLS doesn't make any sense. If 3,000 sellers are all trying to sell the same thing, that's 3,000 sellers all trying to compete for the same share of the pie. The problem isn't that some sellers are opting to use PLS, the problem is that there are 3,000 sellers trying to sell the same thing in the first place.

[siamjane8]

I agree that selling in a saturated category is going to make things harder for you but again- PL are not the answer.   PL are a pay to play scheme giving the sales to the highest bidder regardless of quality of product , quality of customer service, slower shipping, poor quality listings etc..   This is absolutely no way to grow your buyer base at all.   By "forcing" sellers to promote and lose another 5-10% of their profit, you are causing them to cut corners as well, so now PL is actively lowering the quality of your best sellers.    Everything about the pay to play advertising scheme is detrimental to ebay buyers and sellers- it only profits ebay's shareholders in the short term while hurting the overall company in the long term.

[siamjane8]

Not to mention the detrimental effect that PL have had on the ebay search and buyer experience.    The buyer is now overwhelmed and confused buy hundreds of unrelated ads on the listing page even after they have CHOSEN to look at that listing!   Instead of encouraging conversion and the sale- ebay design distracts the buyer and tries to pull them away from the sale.  

    When i search for a 1974 chrysler steering wheel and ebay chooses to show me promoted ads of promoted window tint, promoted neoprene covers and cup holder usb ports.........as a customer- i am frustrated.  Then i go to google to search and it shows me 10 active ebay listings for the exact thing i was trying to find on ebay!!!!!------If google can show me exactly what ebay listings match my search - why cant ebay?   This problem has gotten worse month over month since Promoted Listings were integrated.